Here we first explain what water Rīgas ūdens (Riga's water utility) supplies to the right bank and why a flat does not need whole-house iron removal. We install reverse osmosis and carbon filters, take water samples and help the few houses that have no connection.
What water the right bank of the Daugava gets
Purvciems is on the right bank of the Daugava. Rīgas ūdens writes that right-bank consumers receive groundwater from the Baltezers and Zaķumuiža abstraction sites in Ādaži and Ropaži municipalities: 285 boreholes 30–40 m deep in Quaternary sediments and 15 boreholes 65–75 m deep in Devonian rocks. The company does not publish which source supplies a particular neighbourhood or street.
According to Rīgas ūdens data, iron and manganese in this water exceed the norm only occasionally and slightly, and they are reduced before supply. In stage 4 of the Cohesion Fund project, a biological iron and manganese removal plant with a capacity of 28,000 m³ per day was built at Baltezers. The city's average iron level in 2025 was 0.11 mg/l against a limit value of 0.20 mg/l, manganese 0.02 mg/l.
Sources: Rīgas ūdens, “Water abstraction” and “Projects co-financed by European Union funds” (rigasudens.lv); its average water quality parameters for 2025 (PDF “RŪ mājas lapai 2025”). The riverbank reference is our geographical note, not a measurement for the neighbourhood. Checked 03.11.2026.
What a flat needs and what it does not
A simple conclusion follows from these figures: a flat on city water does not need a whole-house iron removal column, and if one is offered, ask which test justifies it. Sensible solutions for a flat are small and at a specific tap.
- A reverse osmosis filter under the kitchen sink, from €250: if you want drinking water with no taste and fewer dissolved salts. It needs space in a cabinet and a drain connection.
- A carbon filter at the tap: if only the taste or smell bothers you.
- A mechanical filter at the flat inlet: it holds back rust particles from old risers and protects mixer taps and the washing machine.
- A water softener from €600: rarely in a flat, because it needs space for the column and the salt tank, plus a drain for the backwash water.
If rust or cloudiness appears only after the water has stood in the pipes overnight, the cause is most likely the building's risers, not the city network. You can check this with two samples: the first water in the morning and the water after running the tap.
A test from the flat's tap
We take the sample in laboratory bottles from the tap you drink from. If there is already a filter, we take samples before and after it, to see whether the filter works. A basic chemical test costs from €35; for city water we recommend microbiology only if there is a specific reason, for example the water's smell has changed after repairs to the building's pipes.
The test is done by an accredited laboratory, which compares the result with the values in Cabinet Regulation No. 547 on drinking water. The parameters published by Rīgas ūdens describe the water in the city network, but your tap sample also shows the effect of the building's internal pipes. More: water testing.
Cabinet Regulation No. 547 of 26.09.2023 “Mandatory Safety and Quality Requirements for Drinking Water, and the Procedures for Monitoring and Control Thereof”, Annex 1 (iron 200 µg/l, manganese 50 µg/l). Source: likumi.lv/ta/id/345861, checked 03.11.2026.
Houses on the edges of Purvciems without a connection
In the Rīgas ūdens 2025 contract performance report, Purvciems is also listed among the neighbourhoods where in some areas or streets the services are not available or only partly available. The streets are not named, and it is not said whether the water main or the sewerage is missing. If you have a private house or a small building without a connection, check the address in the Rīgas ūdens “Service availability” (Pakalpojuma pieejamība) form, and then we will compare a connection with a spike well (“spice” in Latvian) or a borehole.
Source: the Rīgas ūdens contract performance report for 2025, approved 23.03.2026 (rigasudens.lv). Checked 03.11.2026.
Installation in an estate flat
Purvciems has large inner blocks and busy main roads: Deglava iela, Dzelzavas iela and Stirnu iela. Useful in your request: the floor, whether there is a lift and where we can stop briefly by the building. Before installing a reverse osmosis filter, we check the pressure at the tap, the space in the cabinet and whether a drain connection can be made at the sink trap. If the flat is being renovated, it is worth planning space and connections for the filter while the kitchen is not yet fitted.
Services and prices in Purvciems
- Water treatment in Purvciems: a reverse osmosis filter with installation from €250, a water softener from €600.
- Connecting a filter you have bought yourself: from €40/h.
- Water filter maintenance: cartridges, membrane, salt.
- Water testing in Purvciems: from €35, with microbiology from €95.
There is no call-out fee in Riga. All prices: prices.